The Sleuth
The Sleuth is an anthropomorphic canine. He is an English private eye operating in 19th century London and employing Mickey Mouseas an assistant. The character was created by Carl Fallberg (plot) and Al Hubbard (art) for the Disney Studio Program and intended solely for foreign publication. The first story in the series is Mickey and the Sleuth: The Case of the Wax Dummy. Unusually for material created for the program this story appeared domestically in the Procter & Gamble Disney Magazine giveaway and then was published by Gold Key in "Walt Disney Showcase" n°38 (1977 ). Given their historical setting, the "Mickey and the Sleuth" stories stand apart from other Mickey Mouse continuities. It is never explained if the "Mickey Mouse" working with the Sleuth is an ancestor of the present-day Mickey or if those stories are to be included in a totally different continuity. Apart from Mickey, no other prominent Disney characters are featured in the stories. The Sleuth is a good-natured gentleman; wearing a deerstalker hat, smoking a pipe, and using a magnifying glass, he is an obvious parody of Sherlock Holmes, Mickey basically playing the part of Dr. Watson. Like his literary counterpart, he also plays the violin (albeit horribly). Unlike Sherlock Holmes, however, he is totally hopeless as a detective, being sometimes unable to figure out crimes that happen right in front of his eyes. Nevertheless, he always manages to solve his cases - hence ensuring a reputation as a great detective - either by sheer luck, or thanks to his foes' own incompetence, or simply because Mickey Mouse does all the actual detective work for him. The Sleuth's constant foes are Professor Nefarious (a parody of Professor Moriarty), a London-based "teacher of crime", and his three henchmen-pupils Fliplip, Sidney and Armadillo. Their hideout is a rundown townhouse with the words "University of Criminal Sciences" written on its front door. While Nefarious is reasonably smart (although his own megalomania sometimes hinders his plans), his three accomplices are thoroughly inept comical villains. Mickey and the Sleuth imprison the gang at the end of each story, although Nefarious himself generally manages to escape. Apart from Mickey - and of course, the reader - no one seems to be aware of the Sleuth's utter incompetence. Nefarious considers the Sleuth - not Mickey - as his greatest enemy. Why Mickey would keep being the assistant of such an inept detective is never explained. Mickey and the Sleuth stories were produced up until the late 1980s. Appearances * ''The Case of the Pea Soup Burglaries ''(1975) * ''The Great Winks Robbery ''(1975) * ''The Great Violin Case ''(1975) * ''The Case Of The Closet Deposit ''(1975) * ''The Glasgow Cannonball ''(1976) * ''20,000 Leaks Under The Sea ''(1976) * ''The Case of the Wax Dummy ''(1977) * ''The Marching Band ''(1978) * ''Professor Nefárius Volta A Atacar ''(1978) * ''Mummies And Dummies ''(1979) * ''Sleuth's Mysterious Mission ''(1979) * ''The Indian Jewelry Case ''(1979) * ''Here! Hold This! ''(1979) * ''A Case Of Too Many Sleuths ''(1979) * ''The Great Diamond Heist ''(1979) * ''The Elevator Caper ''(1979) * ''The Case Of The Sticky Stickups ''(1979) * ''Hound Of Piccadilly Square ''(1979) * ''Larceny Begins At Home ''(1979) * ''The Old Shell Game ''(1980) * ''Goon To The Moon ''(1980) * ''Bird Watching's For The Birds ''(1980) * ''Out To Launch ''(1980) * ''Mickey And The Sleuth ''(1980) * ''The Great Motor Car Race ''(1980) * ''The Brighton Beach Mystery ''(1980) * ''The Great Getaway ''(1980) * ''The Great Airship Robbery ''(1980) * ''Guest Pests ''(1980) * ''The Deceptive Detective ''(1980) * ''A Flop At The Opera ''(1980) * ''The Great Film Flim-flam ''(1980) * ''The Baffling Barrel Burglary ''(1980) * ''Two Heads Are Better Than One ''(1980) * ''The Case Of The Cruise ''(1980) * ''The Great Snow Job ''(1980) * ''The Chicken That Laid The Golden Egg ''(1980) * ''Giddey-Up Woe ''(1981) * ''Midsummer Night's Scheme ''(1981) * ''How Not To Rob A Train ''(1981) * ''Fiddling Around ''(1981) * ''The Case of the Magic Lamp ''(1981) * ''The Day Time Stopped ''(1981) * ''A Dummy Dilemma ''(1981) * ''Tea and Larceny ''(1981) * ''The Great Money Moving Mixup ''(1981) * ''Down To The Sea With Drips ''(1981) * ''The Great Bungled Boat Race ''(1981) * ''The Big Bank Bungle ''(1981) * ''Goon with the Wind ''(1981) * ''Mums The Word ''(1981) * ''Cricket Is a Wicket Game ''(1981) * ''The Great London Marathon ''(1981) * ''The Flighty Flier ''(1982) * ''Flummoxed Fox Hunt ''(1982) * ''Bows and Error ''(1982) * ''Clockwork Mickey ''(1982) * ''Os 30 Anos Da Revista Mickey ''(1982) * ''The Caper That Was A Burst ''(1983) * ''Black Cats Are Good Luck ''(1983) * ''The Brighton Beach Bungle ''(1983) * ''Flying Saucer Apprentice ''(1983) * ''My Buzzer Didn't Buzz ''(1983) * ''Just A Poor Old Detective ''(1983) * ''The Counterfeit Crook ''(1983) * ''The Shakespeare Manuscript ''(1983) * ''The Case Of The Counterfeit Crumpets ''(1983) * ''Graduation Day ''(1984) * ''Os Ditados Do Tio Patinhas ''(1984) * ''The Great Crate Mystery ''(1984) * ''The Squares Of Trafalgar ''(1984) * ''The Kipper Caper ''(1984) * ''Bowling For Scholars ''(1984) * ''Library Loot ''(1984) * ''On The Bony Bony Banks Of Loch Lomon ''(1984) * ''Hard Times For The Professor ''(1984) * ''Ink-Orporated ''(1984) * ''The Missing Money ''(1984) * ''Funny Money ''(1984) * ''Vaudeville Is Back - For A Short Time ''(1985) * ''Sculpture Skulduggery ''(1985) * ''The Pearl Diver ''(1985) * ''Tomb It May Concern ''(1985) * ''The Robot Caper ''(1985) * ''All Is Not Gold That Litters ''(1985) * ''The Mystery Of The Missing Motor ''(1986) * ''Ben Hur's Chariot License ''(1988) * ''The Purse Snatcher ''(1989) * ''Diamonds and Jelly Beans ''(1989) * ''The Television Caper ''(1990) * ''Sleuth's Silk Socks ''(1990) * ''L'isola del tesoro ''(2015) Category:Characters Category:Comic Characters Category:Dogs Category:Males Category:Heroes